‘How are we in 2022, and facing this?’
Shop staff at Dunelm have been left in tears over Children’s requests for Christmas presents in this year’s annual appeal.
The home store puts out a Christmas appeal every year in the hope of delivering ‘joy’ this season.
It involves putting up pre-written tags on a tree in stores that customers can take home, purchase and return with the selected gift before December 11th, as the Liverpool Echo reports.
But this year, with the cost of living crisis starting to bite, the appeals have been more heartbreaking than ever.
The most wanted items amongst children and adults were a hat, scarves and gloves – while chocolate for children and toiletries for adults were also highly requested.
On the festive tags, one little boy under the age of 10 simply asked for a “hat and a biscuit please” and another boy under 12 heartbreakingly asked for “a teddy to hold in case Santa doesn’t come to me.”
Another little girl echoed the same devastating sentiment, as she requested a “selection box in case Santa doesn’t come”.
Adults also asked for similar items, as one requested a selection box while another asked for clean socks and toiletries.
Kelly Nichols, a staff member at the Dunelm branch in St Helens, Liverpool, shared the heart-wrenching requests on Facebook to show just how much families are struggling this year.
Sharing this year’s appeal, she wrote on the post: “How are we in 2022, and facing this?!
“Help us to Deliver Joy this year to so many people who are facing a Christmas with absolutely nothing.
“If you’d like to donate, but can’t get down to store & collect a tag, I’m happy to send you some via Messenger…simply deliver them to us, at your convenience, before Dec 11th”.
Many people flooded to the comments section on Kelly’s post desperate to offer help, with one writing: “I’ll pop in at the weekend & collect a few tags absolutely heartbreaking”.
Others were offering to bring gifts directly to stores that they already had purchased, with some even offering up cash.
After her first post gained traction on social media, Kelly shared a follow up message thanking people for their generosity.
She wrote: “I am completely lost for words at the generosity of every single member of this page.
“I have just sent out our 200th tag via Messenger, we have the most amazing ladies waiting to receive tags in bulk for their schools & businesses to fulfil AND we’re down to single figures on the tree in-store
“We do have more tags on the way, but if you’d like to help now, please just buy a tin or packet of food from anywhere, and drop it into store.”
There is more information on how you can donate gifts to children as part of Dunelm’s appeal this year on the retailer’s website.
Related links:
- Hero teen dies just days after birthday when jumping in front of car to save sister
- Shocking true story behind harrowing new Eddie Redmayne series on Netflix
- David Attenborough leaves viewers to crying over ‘urgent final plea’
